via setting

[Anonymous]

Hello ,

how can i change via setting for customized drill and its diameter?

currently software by default taking 0.609 as a drill and diameter as Auto.

Let me know if any ULP working for this to chnage the via globally.

Thanks.

-Amruta

[rachaelATWH4]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hello ,

how can i change via setting for customized drill and its diameter?

currently software by default taking 0.609 as a drill and diameter as Auto.

Let me know if any ULP working for this to chnage the via globally.

Thanks.

-Amruta

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Hi Amruta,

If you are in the ROUTE or VIA commands then you can set the via style, diameter, drill, and layers with the settings on the toolbar before you place the via. If you've already placed the via then you can go to its properties and change all these. Is there something else you are trying to achieve that can't be done this way which you think may require some ULP?

Best Regards,

Rachael

[Anonymous]

you can set the drill, but the diameter will be ignored if too small and replaced by Eagle default minimum. Sad thing, it is set in somewhat named "mil", whicj most people on the planet have no clue what it might be.

And even more confusingly, these PCB board settings are in a window named "CHECK".

[C.Nicks]

Hi Amruta,

I hope your day is going well. As Rachel said, you can change the via diameter for a placed via in the properties window (INFO tool). If the size entered is smaller than the rest-ring sizes in the DRC, then the size will not actually change in the via. The number entered will still be there, but the calculated size will not match.

The DRC controls the via and pad diameters from the values entered on the Restring settings tab.

You can read more about these settings in the help file (search restring).

@Anonymous

You can change the default units to mm by putting set Interface.PreferredUnit 2; in your eagle.scr file.

This is also in the help file (SET section).

Best Regards,

Cameron

[Anonymous]

Hello Rachael,

If say unfortunately i want to change the via setting after finishing all layout for e.g. if i already assigned some settings for via and later i want to change the via properties then how can i do it globally?

[rachaelATWH4]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hello Rachael,

If say unfortunately i want to change the via setting after finishing all layout for e.g. if i already assigned some settings for via and later i want to change the via properties then how can i do it globally?

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If you turn off all your signal and silkscreen layers so you just have your vias showing then group all your vias, then you can use the change command to alter all the vias as a group. You'll need to run DRC afterwards once you have turned all your signal layer back on in case changing via sizes has affected clearances in any way.

Best Regards,

Rachael

[jorge_garcia · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous,

Thanks for participating, you can do global changes using the change-via-by-stack.ulp that comes with EAGLE. It adjusts the via parameters based on what layers they connect. So for example, let's say you have all through hole vias (Layers 1-16 no blind and buried vias) with a drill of 10mils and a diameter of 25mils. You now want to change the diameter to be 35mils, then assuming a mil based grid all you have to do is type the following in the command line:

RUN change-via-by-stack 1 16 10 35 <enter key>

Where <enter key> is the key on your keyboard. Keep in mind that like others have mentioned the DRC is always in play so if you try to make the diameter too small the DRC won't let you.

This ULP has other options and you can find the full documentation in the EAGLE Control Panel under User Language Programs, a single click of the file will show the documentation for the ULP on the right side of the Control Panel.

Please accept as solution if my post fully resolves your issue, or reply with additional details if the problem persists.

Let me know if there's anything else I can do for you.

Best Regards,

[Anonymous]

Hello Jorge,

I run the ULP but it is not working.I clicked ok but it has no operation ahead.

See below screenshot

[rachaelATWH4]

Hi Amruta,

It looks like you didn't run it with the correct command line options as this is the screen you get when you just run it with no options specified. Can you post up to let us know exactly what you did please? Did you just click on the ULP from the RUN dialog and run it that way or did you type RUN change-via-by-stack into the EAGLE command line?

So you are on EAGLE free so you'll be doing a 2 layer board so your command to change the via should be:

RUN change-via-by-stack 1 16 <drill_size> <pad_size> <press enter>

What it will then do is build a script file which it shows you so you can see what its going to do so you can make sure it looks right, with buttons to click "ok" to go ahead and do it or "esc" to not do it. If you decide you don't want to proceed press "esc", do not just click the window close icon like I just did as it then goes and runs it anyway! Naughty ULP!

However, I just tried running it on a test board and it would appear to not work correctly. It gets its command line parameters in a muddle (It takes the second parameter as the via shape if you don't specify a via shape!!!) and seems not to care about the currently specified grid units and assumes everything you enter is in mm.

So, if you change the above command to:

RUN change-via-by-stack 1 16 <drill_size_in_mm> <pad_size_in_mm> ROUND <press enter>

Then it SHOULD work....

Best Regards,

Rachael

[Anonymous]

Hello,

Yes you are right somewhat. 

Now it is working when i type in command window as   RUN change-via-by-stack 1 16 <drill_size_in_mm> <pad_size_in_mm> ROUND <press enter>        But again one thing. Drill gets change but diameter not. Diameter sets as Auto. Why this is so?

Also it works only for once ; i tried this on command line again and again but it runs for single time only.

Some ULP's are not working from File - RUN ULP like this one as an example.

Let me know if any solution .

Thanks,

-Amruta

[rachaelATWH4 · Accepted solution]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Yes you are right somewhat. 

Now it is working when i type in command window as   RUN change-via-by-stack 1 16 <drill_size_in_mm> <pad_size_in_mm> ROUND <press enter>        But again one thing. Drill gets change but diameter not. Diameter sets as Auto. Why this is so?

Also it works only for once ; i tried this on command line again and again but it runs for single time only. 

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I have tried this and and it would seem that there is some "stored state" between invocations of this command. I've just run it several times on a test board with a via using various settings and also changing it manually back to auto at several times, running without the pad diameter specified etc and it picks up the value set from the last time a value was specified. To me this ULP seems way too buggy to be usable.

So in the absence of this ULP being fixed then you can revert to the solution I gave you above. So from the command line:

DISPLAY NONE VIA <press enter>

GROUP <press enter> <drag selection rectangle around all the vias>

CHANGE DRILL <drill_size> <press enter> <hold ctrl and right click the mouse>

CHANGE DIAMETER <pad_size> <press enter> <hold ctrl and right click the mouse>

DISPLAY LAST <press enter>

This works ok if you only have one type of via on the board, if you had a more complex layer setup or lots of different sized vias it would become more complex.

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@Anonymous wrote:

Some ULP's are not working from File - RUN ULP like this one as an example.

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Some ULP require extra information passing to them so require calling from the command line. This is not a problem with the ULP. Yes they could have a GUI added to them to enable information to be passed but in many cases adding a GUI adds no benefit in terms of increased productivity.

Best Regards,

Rachael

[rachaelATWH4 · Accepted solution]

Hello,

So I wasn't happy with a) the existing ULP which is available as it seems broken plus not very flexible and b) leaving you with an option that's a bit of a hack, so I spent a little time this afternoon and wrote a new ULP to update vias (hopefully) more easily.

If you go here: https://www.element14.com/community/people/rachaelp/blog/2017/03/03/eagle-ulp-utilities-library

Now clone the GIT repository I give in that blog post, you will find in there a new ULP called changeVia.ulp.

I haven't updated the documentation on that page yet but basically you can just do:

run changeVia <press enter>

It will now show you a UI dialog with a list of all the via styles in your design, what layers they go between, what size the drill is, the size of the pad, the shape of the pad. From that list you can select the one you are interested in and you'll see the boxes below update to reflect your current selection. You can update the values in those boxes for the currently selected via style and then press OK and it will go through your design and update all the instances of that particular style of via.

Currently it only updates one style at a time but it's very quick. Please note that it's also absolutely a very early alpha version which I have just thrown together this afternoon so has had very limited testing. Please backup your design before using it. I'll be looking to get it tidied up and made more presentable and complete but I wanted to get it out there now so you can see what you think and if it helps solve your issue.

Best Regards,

Rachael

[C.Nicks]

Rachael,

Bravo on your new changeVia ULP. It's simple and elegant and works just like you would expect.

This is one that definitely needs to be included in the default Eagle setup. I could've used this many times in the past, so thank you for the time you put into it.

Best Regards,

Cameron

[jorge_garcia]

Awesome Rachael,

We would totally swap the two ULPs. If the old one doesn't work let's replace it with one that does. I would have to make sure it's cool with Autodesk and Rachael but to me it's a no brainer.

If I had known the other one was going to create problems I wouldn't have recommended it. My bad on that one.

Let me know if there's anything else I can do for you.

Best Regards,

[rachaelATWH4]

Cameron/Jorge,

Thank you, I'm glad you guy's like what I've done 

I've updated the documentation over on my Element14 blog now. I've noted some of the currently known limitations down there. I'm more than happy for this to be used in EAGLE to replace the existing one, but only once I have fixed it up and I've had more testing and feedback. Currently it's still a little rough around the edges for me to be completely happy.

I'm planning on expanding it so you can right click on a via and it'll present you a list of currently used via styles and allow you to select and apply one of those styles to the current via. I also want to maybe have a way of defining a bunch of via styles which can be stored and inserted, so this becomes more of a fully integrated via management tool (whilst retaining it's currently simplicity of use!). Do you guys have any ideas for things you'd like it to do?

Best Regards,

Rachael

[C.Nicks]

Hey Rachael,

Very cool to hear you are planning on fleshing this out into a via management dialog. I think it could be very useful for a lot of us.

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@rachaelATWH4 wrote:
I also want to maybe have a way of defining a bunch of via styles which can be stored and inserted

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I think these definitions could be handled by getting everything listed in the SET DRILL_MENU and SET DIAMETER_MENU. That way all of the options listed in the drill and diameter drop down lists would be used in the dialog.

One of the only other features I would like to see is a way to pass an argument to step up or down through the size list. That way I can make a shortcut that would increase/decrease the via size by holding a modifier and scrolling (autohotkey). That's something I really want while routing. A way to hold shift+scroll to change the routing width.

If I think of any other wish list features I'll let you know.

Best Regards,

Cameron

[rachaelATWH4]

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@C.Nicks wrote:

I think these definitions could be handled by getting everything listed in the SET DRILL_MENU and SET DIAMETER_MENU. That way all of the options listed in the drill and diameter drop down lists would be used in the dialog.

One of the only other features I would like to see is a way to pass an argument to step up or down through the size list. That way I can make a shortcut that would increase/decrease the via size by holding a modifier and scrolling (autohotkey). That's something I really want while routing. A way to hold shift+scroll to change the routing width. 

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Ok I will see what I can do. Let me know if you think of anything else 

Best Regards,

Rachael

[rachaelATWH4]

I've just pushed some more changes to GIT.

Feature: The "Change Via..." context menu is now implemented in its initial basic form so you can change all the properties of a single via just by right clicking on it.

Bug Fix: I've corrected cancellation of the dialog box so it no longer still issues any change commands.

More to come!

Best Regards,

Rachael

[Anonymous]

Hello Racheal,

Thanks a lot for your solution . It works. Only thing about the unit, but yeah definitely we can manage that.

Thanks again

-Amruta

[rachaelATWH4]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks a lot for your solution . It works. Only thing about the unit, but yeah definitely we can manage that.

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Hi Amruta,

You're welcome, I'm glad I was able to come up with a solution that works for you  I've been adding updates to this to my GIT repository since yesterday and I will continue to add features and fix bugs until it's as good as I can get it, and that will include sorting out the units issue.

Best Regards,

Rachael